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Head tilt reoccurance

22 9:51:24

Question
I have been asking you for a few times in the past regarding health issues of my bunny. She is a 10 month old Netherland dwarf bunny. In September 2010, after 1 month I got her from a pet store, she developed head tilt (rightward). I think she might have already carried the spores while she was in the pet store.
She was on Fenbentazole and Baytril for weeks and had 2 shots of steroid. In about a month or so, her head was slowly back to normal position (never completely though).  In early April 2011, her head tilt came back and this time was to the left! The doctor suspected EC and put her on Fenbendazole for 4 weeks. He checked her urine and it turned out fine. It is now only less than a week left to complete her Fenbendazole course, and she is getting better (no longer losing balance; head tilt less obvious).

I'm wondering if there are any things I can do to prevent this from reoccurring? An experienced breeder told me to put her on a short course of Fenbendazole (3 days) every month for prevention. Does it sound reasonable to you? I haven't consulted my vet.

Thank you very much!

Answer
Dear Milly,

Since the cause of the tilt is not known for sure, putting her on Panacur (fenbendazole) prophylactically might not help at all.  And I'm not a big fan of putting a bunny (or anyone) on antibiotics or parasiticides prophylactically, since they can have adverse side effects.

I would just keep up the treatments, keep bun as happy and stress-free as possible, and hope for the best.  If she gets sick again, then treat again.  But constant medication can not only have bad side effects on the bunny's system, but could also select for resistant bacteria (or parasites) that no longer respond to the medications.

Please see:

www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html


I hope this helps.

Dana